


Stand Tall

by ioh



Category: Bandom, Fall Out Boy
Genre: Fluff, M/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-04
Updated: 2018-02-04
Packaged: 2019-03-13 15:20:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13573347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ioh/pseuds/ioh
Summary: Just some fluffy vandays Joetrick





	Stand Tall

Patrick fell in love with Joe somewhere in Maryland. Well, love's a strong word. It was more like he realized how much Joe meant to him and how cute he was. But it wasn't like he just found Joe attractive out of the blue, he's noticed Joe’s smile and bright eyes from the moment they met, it’s just now he wants kiss him and hold his hand and maybe spend the rest of his life with him. Nothing too serious.

 

But as far as he knows, Joe is 100% straight, then again everyone thinks Patrick is 100% straight as well. So Patrick thought he'd just resign himself to moving on once they were back in Chicago. Even if Joe was interested in guys Patrick has enough trouble ordering food from a waiter, much less telling his best friend that he's in love with him.

 

It didn't exactly help that Joe was looking especially good today. Maybe he did something with his hair? Maybe Patrick’s just looking for excuses. He told himself to shut up, the van was crowded enough without his bullshit.

 

Patrick figured he should probably tell someone about this, but the only other people awake at that moment was Joe and Pete. He couldn't talk to Joe about it for obvious reasons. Mentioning it to Pete would result in Pete thinking he's having a Big Gay Crisis and he's already been there done that in like 7th grade so he doesn't need Pete's ‘advice’.

 

For a brief second he thought about waking up Andy before dismissing the thought. As he glanced at the drummer’s sleeping form, he heard Joe shift his body closer towards his own. 

 

“Hey,” Joe said, “Do you know where we are?”

 

“Pete said we should be in Baltimore in an hour,” Patrick replied.

 

“Cool cool,” Joe rested his head on the wall directly across from Patrick. The light from the 7 AM sun made Joe look softer and accentuated the peacefulness in the air. 

 

Joe sighed, “I hate it when Pete drives. Just because he can piss in a bottle doesn’t mean everyone else can.”

 

“I know what you mean,” he said, “I asked him to pull over two hours ago and he told me to go out the window.”

 

Joe lightly chuckled. They didn’t talk after that. With the vibration of the van and Joe’s gentle breathing Patrick almost fell back asleep. As soon as his eyes felt heavy enough to drop the van lurched to a sudden stop. He heard Joe’s head his the side of the van with a hard thud and saw Andy startle awake.

 

“What the fuck?” was the first thing Andy said, his voice still groggy from sleep.

 

“We’re here,” said Pete, undoing his seatbelt.

 

Patrick opened the door, “And where exactly is here?”

 

“Food,” was all that Pete said before he was going inside. The rest followed him, only slightly hesitant.

 

Once they got inside, they crowded into a booth tucked in a corner. Bright colors were making Patrick’s head swim, he could barely read the menu. As soon as he spotted the words ‘Bacon & Eggs’ he put his menu down.

 

The waitress was nice, taking their orders with a bubblegum smile. Debby, at least that’s what her name tag said, was kinda cute, but her eyes lingered a few seconds to long on Joe for Patrick to do anything more than give her a polite smile when she looked his way. 

 

“Hey,” Joe said, causing Patrick to look at him, “I got a vanilla milkshake. Wanna split it?”

 

His cheeks felt like they were on fire and he hoped to God that the others wouldn’t notice before he nodded. He pretty much tuned out what was being said until their food arrived, the others tried to get him to talk a bit before just giving up. The rest of the place was pretty quiet, it was only them and one other table with two older gentlemen.

 

The milkshake that Joe had ordered had two straws and Patrick wanted to die. He was careful to only take sips when Joe was busy talking to the others. It didn’t help the fact that it was really fucking good.

 

Patrick was the first to finish his food, the others not far behind. It felt like they were loitering for a good 15 minutes before they got enough glares from the waitstaff to take the hint and leave.

 

They made it to the motel with a few hours before they had to be at the venue down the street. With nothing to do they crowded into the room and Pete turned on the tv. It was funny how cheap motels always look like they were straight out of the 70s. When it flickered to life Patrick was slightly disappointed to see a show that looked like it was from the past decade.

 

The bed was hardly big enough for two people, much less the four of them. Patrick was the first one to lie down while Pete and Andy sat in two identical chairs with suspicious stains. Patrick had his head at the foot of the bed so he could see the five pixels displayed on the tv.

 

He felt the bed dip beside him and of course Joe would be the one on the bed with him. Patrick really couldn’t catch a break could he? Joe’s breath ghosted on the back of his neck and he could feel Joe’s body heat right behind him.

 

Joe’s arm slung around Patrick’s body and pulled him closer. He nuzzled his head into Patrick’s neck. Patrick was only sort of freaking out. Sure, they had cuddled before, so much in fact it became a running joke in the band. But whenever Joe snuggled closer to him it was always at night, when aftershow highs and the way the moonlight filtered in through the curtains could give it a semblance of unreality. Right then, with the tv too loud and the sun too bright, made the simple gesture seem startlingly real. It wasn’t the homesickness of spending another night in an unfamiliar bed, this was deliberate.

 

Patrick didn’t know what he prefered, while this seemed more real, he was also hyper aware of everything in the room. It was more vulnerable than when it just seemed like the two of them at night. Even if there were jokes from Pete during the day it was still as if the two of them were in a bubble by themselves. Both were good, he supposed, he’ll take anything he could get at this point.

 

They stayed like that for a while. Patrick almost fell asleep, and judging from the deep breaths coming from behind him, Joe almost did too. It faded from the electricity he felt before into something softer, more serene. He could almost convince himself that this was normal, rather than a one time occurrence. 

 

At least it was nice until Pete threw a pillow at them while saying, “Get up love birds, we’ve got a show to play.”

 

Patrick got up slower than he would if he was by himself, partly to piss off Pete, and partly because he didn’t want to leave Joe’s arms. But all good things must come to an end.

 

The cold air was a shock compared to the warmth that Joe radiated. Patrick could feel himself unconsciously move closer to Joe. He wanted to punch himself, they were barely into this tour, couldn’t he wait to get hung up on Joe until they were at least not within five feet of each other most of the time? Apparently not because when Joe smiled at him Patrick could feel butterflies in his chest. He wanted to puke.

 

It didn’t help that Joe was his first real ‘crush’. God he hated that word. Sure he liked some people before, he’s even gone a date or two, but nothing was this intense. He wasn’t even sure if that was the right word because while this was definitely the deepest romantic feelings he’s ever had, Joe made him feel like he was lighter than ever before. Like if Joe wasn’t around he would just float away. Normally his ‘crushes’ would go away in a day or two, so Patrick prayed that it was the case for Joe too.

 

He walked down the street in a daze. That was happening a lot these days. Maybe he wasn’t getting enough sleep. Whatever it was, Patrick seemed to go straight from the doorway of the motel to standing in front of the venue while the others were chatting to some random people outside. 

 

Up until they were on was a blur. When they were playing he felt the familiar buzz on his skin. It felt like heaven, almost addicting. His energy was boundless for an hour or so. Time stopped when they played, and he was almost certain that the crowd couldn’t care less, but it still made him feel immortal.

 

Once they were done playing he felt heavy and tired. He wanted to just go back to their motel room and fall asleep. But of course he couldn’t do that. The rest of the guys liked to mingle and he would feel bad leaving them there to go sleep. So he sucked it up and started chatting was a dude sitting at the bar. In Patrick’s experience drunk people were pretty easy to talk to, and the guy was. He pretty much did all the talking, save for Patrick’s one word responses here and there.

 

The place was starting to clear out and the guy was still goddamn talking. Patrick almost found himself falling asleep right then and there. He wasn’t really listening at that point, just hoping that eventually the guy would leave or pass out. 

 

“... you and your boyfriend are real cute, but some people out here don’t like that kind of thing so be careful,” Patrick heard the man’s voice fading in as he started paying attention.

 

“I’m sorry. What?” he sputtered.

 

The guy looked him straight in the eye, “Kid, I don’t got a problem with it, but some people do and you gotta be wary of who’s around.”

 

Patrick shook his head, “No, no. We’re not together.”

 

“Coulda fooled me,” the man shrugged, “but still, stay safe.”

 

Pete shouted at him from across the room, “Patrick, come on! We’re waiting on you.”

 

As Patrick got up from his seat and walked to where the others were waiting by the door he could swear his face was beet fucking red. At least the others didn’t mention in. They walked back to the room in relative silence.

 

When they got inside Pete announced that he was going to get some booze so they could get fucked up. Patrick didn’t really think he was up for drinking, but then again he hardly ever had a chance to actually get drunk.

 

Wherever Pete went to get the booze must have been pretty close considering he was only gone for five minutes at the most. He passed out the drinks and they all clinked them together like it was champagne rather than the cheapest thing he could find. They all downed their drinks, and the rest of the six pack before Pete announced that he had whiskey and they were doing shots. That probably wasn’t the brightest idea.

 

They only did three before they decided to get the second six pack to slow it back down again. To be fair they didn’t have real shot glasses, it was more like Pete was pouring what he thought a shot was into some paper cups. It was more than apparent that Pete already had a drink or two at the venue. Even though Andy didn’t drink, he definitely wasn’t going to pass up making fun of Pete in the morning for passing out first.

 

Soon enough he and Joe were the only ones up. Andy had shooed them to the bathroom because they were being too loud and he needed his ‘beauty sleep’. So they were sitting cross legged in the bathtub since it seemed like the only thing in that bathroom that had been cleaned in the past decade. The buzzing light was dim and Patrick could hear the tv in the other room that someone had turned on at some point.

 

Neither of them had said a word in what felt like forever. He looked over at Joe and found him staring back. Before Patrick could say anything, Joe leaned in and kissed him. It wasn’t great, too much teeth and kind of rushed, but he was kind of freaking out because Joe fucking Trohman just kissed him.

 

When Joe pulled back, Patrick was already smiling at him. The only thing bugging him was that this wasn’t how it should’ve gone. It should have been romantic, not in a fucking bathtub while the rest of the band was in the other room. He didn’t want to pretend this never happened, he didn’t want this to be a drunken mistake.

 

“Hey,” Joe whispered.

 

“Yeah?” Patrick replied.

 

Joe’s eyes crinkled, “I’m pretty sure Pete got fake booze.”

 

“Yeah,” Patrick said, “I know.”

 

They fell asleep in the bathtub, with Joe’s arm snugly around Patrick’s waist.

**Author's Note:**

> So this'll be be first work that I (hopefully) don't delete a few days later. Also I wrote this over a year ago, but I was too nervous to ever post it so...


End file.
